All the wonderful birds and wildlife of Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales and further

08/02/2017 Cumbria, Bowness-on-Windermere

Iceland Gull: Finally got myself up to Windermere to see this little beaut. I was also able to drag Dawn and Yogi, Dawn's friends cute little dog who we are looking after for a couple of weeks.

Despite the promises of a nice winters walk with the dog and a spot of lunch beside the lake I had my mind set on seeing a white winged gull!
This 2nd winter bird has been hanging around the ferry landing stage for a few weeks now and is well worth a visit to see, it's a stunner.

This is a very distinctive looking bird, its almost pure white, unlike the many 1st winter individuals that I have seen which have more fine brown barring throughout it's plumage.
Also note the 2nd Winter birds eye colour, which is brighter than the 1st winter birds iris that are typically darker.

Iceland is distinctly smaller then a Glauc, being roughly the size of a Lesser Black-back Gull and with it's rounded head, sleek features and long primaries it still obviously stood out as a large gull amongst the very smaller black-headed Gulls.

The bird seemed to spend much of it's time perched upon the landing poles that face the sitting area next to the ferry booking terminals where it's bright white body stands out like a beacon.

It occasionally took off and flew out of sight, but not for long and soon reappeared upon it's favoured perches. The bird also came down to feed with the local Black-headed Gulls, Swans and Geese who were being fed by the day-trippers.

This image shows nicely that the Iceland Gull has long, tapered primaries that project well beyond the tail, producing an attenuated look to the rear end. Unlike a Glauc which have relatively short, blunt primaries.

Goosander: After I got my fill of the Iceland Gull I turned my attention to the other birds on the lake where amongst the usual suspects was this red-head Goosander.

This bird seemed to have taken a fancy to steeling bread from the other birds and wasn't shy about it, as on several occasions came right up to my feet, on the waters edge.

In the end Dawn, Yogi and I had a really nice day, a lovely walk, some questionable food but were thrilled to see such a great gull up close and personal.